This paper develops a majority voting model to analyze the determination of taxes and transfers in a system of pay-as-yougo social insurance. The major implication is that the equilibrium size of the system is too large if votes are fully aware of the consequences of the policy. In addition, it seems likely that voters are rationally ignorant of a large portion of the cost of social insurance due to the hidden nature of the employer contribution and to the effect of the system on capital accumulatoin. This fiscal illusion works to exacerbate the overexpansion of the social insurance system.


Xinjiang Zhundong coal reserves of rich area,is a good motivation to use coal,but coal ash melting point,east low ash calcium,sodium,potassium content is high,has the serious fouling,slagging characteristics of Shenhua,the East thermal power plant using coal combustion study the question and countermeasure discuss,put forward the fluidized bed combustion boiler using Zhundong coal countermeasure proposal,solve the boiler coking and ensure the safe operation of the boiler and the measures.


A compact grating imaging spectrometer with sub-nanometer resolution achieved by limiting spectral coverage is presented. Its applications include monitoring gross primary production of forests and farms, cloud top height, and air quality of mega cities.


This paper researches on the new tender bid management models in the construction of digital university campus,analyzes the information flow of tender bid management,introduces the system architecture and implementation diagram,then develops and tests the prototype ender bid management system and verifies its application significance.


The Landau–Lifshitz frame has been widely used to represent the macroscopic quantities of relativistic hydrodynamics in the presence of the dissipative process. In this paper, we derive the Landau–Lifshitz frame in the near-equilibrium regime under self-contained assumptions that do not require comparison with the Eckart frame. And then we revisit the relativistic BGK model proposed by Anderson and Witting to provide an application example of the Landau–Lifshitz frame.


The purpose of this study was to Investigate the relationship of organizational management style and job satisfaction of clinical nurse specialists employed in hospitals. From a statewide population of 62 clinical nurse specialists, 45 subjects in 17 hospitals responded to a survey consisting of Likert's Profile of Organizational Characteristics to measure management style and Munson and Heda's Job Characteristics Instrument to measure job satisfaction: The clinical nurse specialists perceived that they were currently experiencing a benevolent-authoritative management style but preferred a participative style. Management style and job satisfaction were significantly correlated (r = 0.72, p = 0.001). Management style perception and years in present position predicted 58.6% of the variance in job satisfaction scores.


Purpose The following guidelines will help annotators distinguish between "tweets" that indicate specific instances of the Twitter author's intake of the medication in the tweet (intake), tweets that do not specify that the user actually took the medication or when the medication was taken, but are still about the author's intake (possible intake), and tweets that do not indicate the author's use of the medication (no intake).


In this paper,  an attempt  was made to measure the excitation function   for the disappearance  residues recognized in the interaction of 12 C+ 128 Te and 14 N + 128 Te  system with  the observation to investigating  the complete and incomplete fusion  reaction dynamics in heavy ion induced  reaction.  The incentive of this study was break up of 12 C and 14 N in reaction below 7MeV/A and associate the excitation function for 12 C and 14 N with the same target  128 Te  prominent different compound system. PACE-4 were used for analysis of the system, and the measured excitation functions  for precise decay channel in two case i.e. ( 12 C+ 128 Te and 14 N + 128 Te) have been associated and established in Bohr assumption in case of complete fusion  channels. The properties of coulomb barrier and other entrance channel parameters were established to be relatively significant in decisive the decay mode of composite system.  Additionally the incomplete fusion dynamics were also perceived to be of significant importance in present energy section. Keywords : Complete Fusion, Incomplete fusion, non-α-emitting, α-emitting DOI : 10.7176/APTA/81-01 Publication date: December 31 st 2019


We study phenomena happening at the surface of a star in Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld (EiBI) gravity. The star is made of particles, which are effectively described by a polytropic fluid. The EiBI theory was known to have a pathology that singularities happen at a star surface. We suggest that the gravitational back-reaction on the particles cures the problem. Strong tidal forces near the (surface) singularity modify the effective equation of state of the particles or make the surface be unstable depending on its matter contents. The geodesic deviation equations take after the Hooke's law, where its frequency-squared is proportional to the scalar curvature at the surface. For a positive curvature, a particle collides with a probing wall more often and increases the pressure. With the increased pressure, the surface is no longer singular. For a negative curvature, the matters around the surface experience repulsions with infinite accelerations. Therefore, the EiBI gravity is saved from the pathology of surface singularity.


We proposed a quantitative thermodynamic theory to address the physical process of surface roughening during the epitaxial growth of core-shell NW with alloy layer. The surface roughening origins from the transformation of the Frank-van der Merwe (FM) mode to the Stranski-Krastanow (SK) mode. In addition to the radius of NW core, the composition and thickness of alloy shell could determine the growth behaviors due to their modulation to the strain. The established theoretical model not only explains the surface roughening caused by the alloy shell layer, but also provides a new way to control the growth of core-shell NW.


Over the past decade,regional normal universities have undergone popularization,restructuring and teacher education reforms.The national long-term education reform and planning program(2010-2020) has taken effect since 2010.This brings chances and challenges for universities in relation to the integration of teaching and comprehensive features.Scientific curricular structure,communal services,creative and research-oriented education system should be the target of the new development.


Orange juice samples were treated in DPCD process under 40 Mpa at 55C within duration ranging from 10 to 60 min. Physicochemical characteristics and flavor compounds of DPCD-treated samples were detected and compared with those of orange juices freshly squeezed and thermally processed at 90C for 60 s. Particle size, consistency coefficient and a* value tended to become smaller as the DPCD treatment was prolonged. The proportion of the small particles increased greatly after DPCD treatment, indicating that the increase in cloud and stability of orange juice treated by DPCD should be primarily ascribed to the effect of homogenization by DPCD. The relative contents of ethyl butyrate and trans-2-hexenol decreased linearly after 10–60 min of DPCD treatment, their mathematical models with higher correlation coefficients (R2 = 0.968 and 0.804) and confidence interval (P < 0.05) indicating a good prediction for DPCD process, whereas the relative content of nonanal and citronellol after DPCD treatment increased, higher than that after thermal treatment or even higher than that in fresh juice. The Herschel–Bulkley model was best fit to the juice flow behavior. The consistency coefficient, K, and the flow behavior index, n, could be considered constants and time-independent properties within the first 30 min and the second 30 min, respectively, and the consistency coefficient in the second period was about 28% lower than that in the first period, which is significant for energy saving in commercial application of the juice DPCD process.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Orange juice is probably the most popular fruit juice worldwide. Commercial orange juice is thermally processed to inactivate PME and microorganisms. DPCD, a nonthermal processes, is attractive in expecting less quality degradation of food and better flavor, color, taste and nutrients retention. The cloud particles in orange juice impart its characteristic flavor, color and taste, and cloud stability is dependent on the stability of the colloids and the suspended particle size and charge. However, there was no report about effects of DPCD processing on juice particle size distribution, rheological properties and volatile components, which are greatly significant for the cloud stability and flavor of orange juice. We provided the above information in this study, which is useful for quality control of orange juice in industrial application.


Electric power grids are always affected by numerous unexpected faults. Occurrence of these faults will have a negative impact on network availability and reliability indices of the network. But the indicators of reliability and quality of electrical energy in the network can be augmented by locating the fault in the shortest time. Special features of distribution networks such as load and network imbalance, existence of different types of load with different connections, existence of multiphase branches, effects related to different conductors, capacitive effects of distribution lines, and limited numbers of measuring devices complicate the process of fault localization in distribution networks. On the other hand, increasing penetration of distributed generation units has caused conventional methods of fault localization. Therefore, it is mandatory to introduce new methods of fault locating by considering the mentioned features. Hence, in the current study, nonlinear methods are presented for identifying the location of ground faults in the power distribution network with the help of voltage phasor measurement at different network buses by the D-PMU phased distribution unit. In the first technique, the genetic optimization algorithms and particle swarm optimization for nonlinear modeling of fault position along the distribution line have been utilized for different single-phase, two-phase, and three-phase faults, and in the second technique, neural fuzzy network training has been proposed by different phasor measurement devices. In this case, it is enough to access the phase information of the network bus voltage. In order to show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms, a 9-bus system is defined by MATLAB software and also defining different line lengths and line characteristics in different buses. Moreover, after applying single-phase, two-phase, and three-phase faults, as well as presenting the results, fault localization is detected in the shortest time.


In 1994 Tyler proposed a modification of the MAD in order to achieve the maximal possible finite sample breakdown point for the Stahel-Donoho estimator based upon the median and the modified MAD. A proof is not given, however, and as far as we know has not been published yet. Moreover there seems to be an error concerning the exact definition of the modified MAD which is needed to achieve this goal. For the sake of theoretical completeness and in order to correct this error we calculate the finite sample breakdown point of modifications of the MAD and point out which of these modifications lead to a Stahel-Donoho estimator with maximal finite sample breakdown point.


Abstract : This thesis is a case study of the impact of the national cultures of buying nations on Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programs. The sales of the F/A-18 fighter aircraft to Switzerland and Finland are specifically evaluated. The issues brought forth in this study will demonstrate the necessity for those employees who interact with people from foreign cultures to ensure that they posses adequate training in cross-cultural communications. In an era of declining defense budgets, defense contractors are pursuing foreign buyers vigorously. Increased competition from foreign competitors mandates the need for increased awareness of intercultural differences and improved skills in this area. Cross-cultural communications training opportunities for both Government employees arid contractor personnel are discussed, in addition to reviewing the current status of training received by the personnel assigned to two on-going FMS cases. Proper intercultural communications training will help defense contractors and Government agencies by resulting in more efficient programs with fewer misunderstandings and possibly in lower prices for the Government as a result of increased economies of scale due to the foreign sales. Recommendations for further research are provided.


Objective To observe the clinical effect of Nicorandi on chronic heart failure(CHF).Methods 120 cases of CHF patients were randomly divided into two groups.The control group was given conventional treatment,and the treatment group was given Nicorandi on the use conventional treatment.Two groups of patients were detected left ventricular posterior wall thickness(LVP),ventricular septal thickness(IVS),left ventricular end diastolic diameter(LVEDD),left ventricular end systolic diameter(LVESD) and left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF) before and after treatment.Results Compared with the control group,LVP,IVS thickness was significantly reduced,LVEDD,LVESD was significantly reduced,and LVEF increased significantly in treatment group.Conclusion Nicorandil can reverse left ventricular remodeling and improve cardiac function.


Abstract We investigated whether liver expression of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα) gene is related to the plasma thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance (TBARS) level, as well as to plasma cholesterol (TC) level and plasma triglyceride (TG) level in rats fed a high fat chow containing a variety of fatty acids. Only the plasma TBARS level showed a significant negative correlation with the liver PPARα mRNA level (TC, R=0.001, p=0.9967; TG, R=0.248, p=0.1276; TBARS, R=0.439, p=0.0046). Although futher studies are needed to clarify whether the increase of the liver PPARα mRNA level confers a reduction in plasma TBARS levels, it is likely that PPARα activity plays a regulatory role in the pathogenesis of hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis.


Laboratory generated chromium (Ⅵ) wastewater treatment was studied by selecting the sludges from fish ponds,pollutant carrying in the recirculation zone of Yangtze River,and landscape pond.Main process conditions for chromium (Ⅵ) wastewater treatment were investigated in making comprehensive utilization of the integrated properties of sludges,such as reduction,adsorption and complexation.Results showed that the sludge from fish ponds was the best;the treatment effect was better with pH value of 3~4 than that with pH of weak acid and neutral.For the selected wastewater with chromium (Ⅵ) concentration of 27 mg/L,15 g/150 mL sludge was sufficient,with which the removal was basically stable higher than 93% after 45 h.This shows that sludge is the convenient efficient and easy material to deal with laboratory Chromium (Ⅵ) wastewater.


ABSTRACT In this paper, the supercritical gas molecule adsorption characteristics of methane in shale are quantitatively described by using the lattice theory. The results show that the methane adsorption capacity predicted by this theory is high, with the average absolute error 0.003 3 mmol·g−1. There is a near-linear positive relationship between the adsorption potential between methane and the solid surface (ϵs) and the experimental temperature. The value of the average potential between the adsorbate molecules (ϵa) is distributed in −0.841–1.791 kJ·mol−1, and the absolute value of ϵa is significantly smaller than the absolute value of ϵs, indicats that the potential energy between the adsorbate molecules is significantly smaller than that between the adsorbate molecules and the pore surface of shale. When the temperature is relatively low (T = 308.55 K), the value of ϵs/ϵa is 7.5 times; with the increases of the temperature, the magnification will gradually decrease and keep stabilize (3.37 times).


As part of the Reframing Mathematical Futures II (RMFII) Project, Statistical Reasoning was identified as one of three areas of Mathematical Reasoning to be investigated. A hypothetical learning progression for statistics was developed based on previous research. Assessment tasks designed to address different Zones of the progression were sent to trial schools and the data were analysed using Rasch Analysis. This paper reports on the analysis of the preliminary data received and gives some implications for teaching


We propose a two-direction neural network to solve the problem that the current lane detection method based on row position information cannot detect curved lane. With this method, we can detect both straight lane and curved lane with high speed and high precision. Experiments showed that this method can detect lane lines with different shapes more effectively, and the new fast lane detection methods have more perfect functions. We hope that this detection method can help the current unmanned vehicles to work efficiently in different realistic scenarios.


SUMMARY

We have developed an automated method for measuring shear wave splitting and applied it to SKS phases recorded at permanent broad-band stations in Canada. Our method performs two measurements, one seeking to minimize the energy on the transverse component, the other minimizing the smaller of two eigenvalues calculated from the covariance matrix of particle motion. A short-term-average/long-term-average (STA/LTA) phase picker is used to identify SKS arrivals and successive splitting measurements are made on incrementally larger windows around the SKS arrival. The final result is derived from the longest series of windows over which the splitting parameters remain constant. In this study we have processed over 20 000 station/event combinations from 34 stations and 1540 events. Roughly 2 per cent of the data produce reliable estimates of splitting, due to the stringent quality controls applied. We find good correlation between our results and previously published results from the same stations. At some stations we find significant differences in results between the two methods, an observation that has been verified using manual measurements. In each case, eigenvalue derived measurements are consistent with a single layer of anisotropy but transverse-energy derived results require a more complex interpretation. This discrepancy can be explained by misalignment of horizontal components. Tests with synthetic seismograms show that component misalignment can lead to false interpretations of multilayer or dipping anisotropy using the transverse-energy method. The quality of results at individual stations is variable, being influenced both by the volume of available data (determined by station deployment date and the distribution of natural seismicity), and the performance of the STA/LTA picker used to define the start of the SKS window. We compare the orientation of the inferred anisotropy at each station with local tectonic features and directions of absolute plate motion (APM); there is no consistent correlation. Many stations give results that agree with both, while some agree better with local geology and others agree better with APM directions. Results are available through a dedicated website and provide a potential aid to other studies of anisotropy in the deep Earth.


The aim of the present paper is to understand a contrast in the interpretation of Clitic Left Dislocated (CLLD-ed) indefinites in Italian and Greek. In a nutshell, Greek CLLDindefinites systematically take wide scope over clause internal intensional predicates or quantifiers while their Italian counterparts may be interpreted either within or outside the scope of clause internal operators. Consider (1)-(2): both examples involve a Clitic Left Dislocated (CLLD-ed) indefinite. A known fact about the Greek example in (1) (from Alexopoulou & Kolliakou, 2002) is that the indefinite resists the so-called opaque or de dicto interpretation (Iatridou, 1995; Alexopoulou & Kolliakou, 2002). Thus, only (1c) is a felicitous continuation of (1a); (1b) which involves a non-referential interpretation of the CLLD-ed antecedent is not felicitous (as indicated by 6=).


This study presents a travelling-wave-based protection method for a two-terminal line using single-end data. The method uses polarity of the voltage and current travelling waves to decide the direction of fault. The magnitude and the arrival time of first incident current travelling wave, its reflections returned from the fault point and the remote bus at the relay point is used for the protection purpose. It includes a technique to discriminate reflection returned from fault point or remote bus, based on reflection coefficient of current travelling wave to locate the exact location of fault. For the case, when reflections returned from fault point, and remote end are not discriminable, a relation is formed using arrival time of first incident current wave, its reflections returned from the fault point and the remote bus to identify the internal fault. Using location of fault and the relation formed, protection decision is derived. Results for different fault types, fault locations, fault resistances and fault inception angles in a power system demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed method. Comparative assessment with available method is also provided.


This chapter explores both the challenges and opportunities presented to patients at the end of life as they search to create meaning of their illness. The dying experience may mean suffering beyond physical symptoms, and nurses often find it difficult to address the anticipatory grief, existential despair, and the depression that arises as one faces death. Identifying these concerns and introducing concepts of how the search for meaning may impart the possibilities of hope, resolution, growth, spiritual discovery, reframing, and coming to peace about the essence of one's life are addressed. Finally, this chapter describes how care of the dying that integrates these elements becomes a gift for the healthcare professional, offering the possibility to develop resiliency and strength for the future.


Purpose

This paper aims to analyze the impact of Sharī'ah compliance perception on customer satisfaction in Islamic banking sector of Pakistan.

Design/methodology/approach

Primary data were collected from 242 account holders of Islamic banks and Islamic banking branches of conventional commercial banks and analyzed by correlation and regression through self-administered questionnaires based on SERVQUAL model.

Findings

Significant moderating effects of Sharī'ah compliance perception on the relation between service quality and customer satisfaction have been identified.

Research limitations/implications

As a cross-sectional study with convenience sampling restricts generalizability and because financial benefits offered by banks were not included as a variable, the scope of this study is limited to service quality only. Future research may focus on the moderating effect of Sharī'ah compliance perception through longitudinal study with larger sample size in a multi-cultural environment.

Practical implications

Results of this paper recommend Islamic banks to focus on their core strength "Sharī'ah compliance" while developing their product/service and building marketing strategies. Moreover, assurance of high-quality services will sustain such strategies against competition with conventional banks.

Social implications

Islamic banks must primarily develop their brand through extensive communication and public awareness programs regarding Sharī'ah compliance standards in terms of products/services, policy/procedures, code of conduct and Sharī'ah board.

Originality/value

This research examines moderating role of Sharī'ah compliance perception between service quality and customer satisfaction in Islamic banking sector of an Islamic Republic with dual banking system. This interactive effect of Sharī'ah compliance perception has not been found as an overriding theme in any of the main stream journals/articles. Therefore, this study fills this gap.


Howard Skempton's natural habitat is outside the box. Since the late 1960s he has flown in the face of the most fashionable trends in music, initially producing small, spare, almost inscrutable pieces often covering less than a page. He has never stood still, always gently subverting the listener's conception of his music. A major shift came in 1991 with his orchestral work Lento, where not only the size of forces used, but timescale as well, moved into a new area without compromising his own personal voice. More recently he has developed a relationship with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) resulting in Only the Sound Remains for viola and ensemble (2010), lasting more than 30 minutes. With a seemingly quite traditional surface, the piece's ability to hold a series of seemingly unconnected episodes together whilst retaining a sense of continuity disguised a highly radical structure (see Calum MacDonald's review in TEMPO 253 for more details).


We have studied the orientation of crystallites in samples of the ceramic superconductor YBa2Cu3Ox using x‐ray diffraction and optical microscopy. Although none of the special techniques for developing texture in this material were employed in the synthesis of our samples, it appears from our data that there is considerable orientation of the crystallites and that the pattern of orientation extends throughout the sample. The degree of orientation increases in a predictable way with the amount of processing. We describe a mechanism for explaining these observations.


Polarized hyperspectral imaging is a new remote sensing method that combines the benefits of polarization and hyperspectral characteristics. Based on a new self-developed polarized field imaging spectrometer system (FISS-P), we collected polarized hyperspectral images of leaves of Sedum spectabile Boreau. Polarization analysis of the diffuse reflectance standard white plate indicated that the FISS-P produced accurate polarization measurements. Ten related polarization parameters (I, Q, U, DoLP, AoP, R0, R60, R120, R, RI) were analyzed in this study. The angle of polarization (AoP) spectral curves of the S. spectabile leaf had no unique spectral features. The degree of linear polarization (DoLP) spectral curves displayed distinct spectral characteristics. However, the DoLP and spectral reflectance curves of the leaf displayed contrasting trends. Different parts of the same leaf, or different S. spectabile leaves, produced different spectral curve shapes. Analysis of the five reflectance parameters demonstrated that R0, R60, R120, RI, and R were consistent for all spectral and spatial aspects.


Truncated and censored regression models are useful when the dependent variable is observed in some ranges but not in others. A classical example is Tobin's (1958) study of household expenditures, in which expenditures on durable goods were seen to generally increase with income, but a non-trivial number of households had no expenditures on durable goods. The problem, in this case, is how to model the response.1 It is clearly inappropriate for a classical linear model due to the presence of many observations with values of 0. However, a model can be constructed using a latent variable approach. Suppose that we consider a latent continuous variable Y ∗ that is normally distributed with mean μ and variance σ2. The standard Tobit model is given by Y ∗ = Xβ + ε Y = Y ∗ if Y ∗ > 0 = 0 if Y ∗ ≤ 0.


The purpose of this study was to determine market integration and changes in the price of shallots in the Medan Market Center with the Retailers' Market for Bina Usaha Meulaboh. The method of determining the research area used was purposive method and the data used were secondary data obtained from related agencies such as PIHPS (National Strategic and Food Price Information Center) as well as obtained from the West Aceh District Trade Office. The results of this study indicated that changes in the price of shallots in the Medan Market Center and the Bina Usaha Meulaboh Market were elastic where ET = 0.67 (<1) meaning that the change in the price of shallots was 1% in the Bina Usaha Meulaboh Market. The price change was less than 0, 67% at the wholesaler level at the Medan Market Center. The integration of the shallot market between the Medan Market Center and the Bina Usaha Meulaboh Market was determined with IMC = 0.19769 (<1), which indicated that the price of shallots at the Medan Market Center and the Bina Usaha Meulaboh Market has a market linkage or a reciprocal relationship between the two markets.


The current study aimed at investigating the therapeutic effects of rubusoside on type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) mice models as an alternative hypoglycemic candidate drug. T2DM mice models were established with a combination of streptozotocin (STZ) intraperitoneal injection and high-fat diet. After 10 weeks of rubusoside intragastric administration (100, 200 mg/kg/day) to the mice, the body weight, fasting blood glucose, glucose tolerance, and blood lipids were measured. The liver protein expression levels of p-AMPK, GLUT2, GLUT4 and total antioxidant capacity were also investigated. After 10 weeks of rubusoside administration, the levels of blood glucose and lipids were decreased in T2DM mice. Compared with the model group, rubusoside administration significantly decreased the liver mass-to-body weight ratio, upregulated p-AMPK and GLUT4, and downregulated GLUT2 expression levels in the liver. Activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and gluathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) were increased, and the concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) was decreased to reduce oxidative stress in the liver. Liver hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) pathological analysis also showed that rubusoside had a protective effect on T2DM mice liver. These results demonstrate that rubusoside could be used as an anti-diabetic candidate drug, and that its hypoglycemic mechanism might be related to the activation of adenosine 5′-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK) to modulate the expression of GLUT2 and GLUT4. Finally, rubusoside could also increase total antioxidant capacity to protect the liver from oxidative stress.


H. Vignes finds that lead-poisoned women often abort or give birth to dead children, and their living children usually die in the first years of life; this rule, however, may allow for exceptions. Therefore the author does not need, furthermore, that women with an abnormal course of pregnancy on account of lead poisoning present severe signs of the latter: sometimes abortions are their only symptom of saturnism.


The present invention is a stator or rotor, a progressive cavity motor or pump component, at the expected operating temperature of the motor or pump, or becomes elastic below remains solid at ambient air, high glass transition It discloses one having a temperature polymer surface. Since the surface is resilient, progressive cavity motor, effectively operate at temperatures above the glass transition temperature of the polymer selected temperature.


Abstract : DRDC Toronto has an ongoing commitment to investigating moral and ethical decision-making (MEDM) in Canadian Forces (CF) operations. Several projects had been previously funded through the Technology Investment Fund (TIF) awarded to the research team from the Command Effectiveness and Behaviour (CEB) section. This work has recently been extended into a 3-year Applied Research Program to further explore MEDM in operational contexts. This report proposes research ideas that could be explored in the context of this 3-year Applied Research Program (ARP). This research agenda is driven by two compatible motives: (1) to remain systematic and theory oriented and (2) to contribute to the CF's operational readiness in the domain of MEDM. The work on this research plan began with brainstorming a wide range of topics relevant to moral and ethical decision-making. Many of these topics derived from previous research exploring MEDM (Thomson, Adams, & Sartori, 2005; Thomson, Adams, & Sartori, 2006a; Thomson & Adams, 2007) and from focus group discussions with the DRDC Toronto MEDM Team. These research areas included person-based factors, team factors, contextual factors, situational factors, judgement and decision-making, emotion, and moral motivation and behaviour. Based on this initial mapping of the target domain, these broad areas were then narrowed to several focal areas, based on the following criteria: 1) their ability to contribute to the operational effectiveness of Canadian Forces; 2) their ability to contribute to the broader MEDM literature, and 3) on the skills and interests of the research team. Proposed focal areas include self-identity (person-based factor), team diversity (team factor), the role of collaborative processing (judgement and decision making), and the process of moral disengagement (moral motivation and behaviour).


In this paper we propose a technique to design compact multi-band and UWB bandpass filters based on coupled half wave resonators. The proposed design consists of the modification of a conventional parallel coupled Chebyshev bandpass filter structure by setting a very small or null coupling gap between the resonators of the center sections jointly with a very small spacing between resonators of the extremity sections. This spacing determines the performances of selected frequency bands. An ultrawideband response is accomplished by applying null spacing between all the adjacent resonators. We analysed the effect of the separation distance between the coupled lines on both the fractional bandwidth and group velocity of the filter response. The effect of the order assumed for the initial Chebyshev filter was also discussed. As an illustration of the proposed technique, we designed and measured a dual band and a tri-band filter for the frequencies covering the WiMAX/WLAN/X system bands demonstrating an excellent performance, with a fractional bandwidth covering the 40% and 100% of the FCC bandwidth respectively. The proposed technique alleviates the fabrication accuracy requirements. The designs show an optimal improvement in terms of group velocity flatness.


Correspondence Address: (57) ABSTRACT DARBY & DARBY PC. P. O. BOX 5257 NEW YORK, NY 10150-5257 (US) A method for permitting a user of a printer, Such as a color proofing printer, to rapidly and easily evaluate whether or (73) Assignee: Global Graphics Software Limited not the color of prints produced by the printer is correct by comparing different pairs of test patches added to the (21) Appl. No.: 10/342,161 intended content of a print job. As a result, it becomes possible to determine whether the print was produced using (22) Filed: Jan. 14, 2003 a correct input configuration.


Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) is the major factor that limits the maximum optical fiber output power in narrow linewidth applications, which include important fields such as passive optical networks (PONs), high-power fiber amplifiers, and lasers. Great efforts have been dedicated to suppressing the SBS effect and increasing the maximum optical fiber output power. This paper focuses on key fiber-based techniques to suppress SBS. These techniques take advantages of the properties of optical fibers. We present how these properties (electric modes, acoustic modes, and material properties) could be utilized to suppress SBS. The fiber-based techniques are divided into transverse optical fiber design, longitudinal variant fiber design, and external perturbations (strain and temperature) on optical fibers. Transverse optical fiber design focuses on the mechanism electro-acoustic interaction. Large effective area fiber design and acoustic tailoring techniques have been discussed. Longitudinal variant fiber design considers the nonlinear SBS interaction along propagation distance, and various techniques related have been presented. External perturbations (strain and temperature) on optical fibers emphasize on how external static perturbations could modify the SBS effect.


Degradation of the gene encoding a sulfated fucose galactan activity of a polypeptide, said polypeptide reagent for sugar chain engineering, structural analysis and preparation of the degradation products of polysaccharides sulfated-fucose-containing polysaccharide; production genetic engineering methods described polypeptide; and a polypeptide obtained by the method.


A novel flight control scheme is proposed using the terminal sliding mode technique, unidirectional auxiliary surfaces and the disturbance observer model. These proposed dynamic attitude control systems can improve control performance of hypersonic vehicles despite uncertainties and external disturbances. The terminal attractor is employed to improve the convergence rate associated with the critical damping characteristics problem noted in short-period motions of hypersonic vehicles. The proposed robust attitude control scheme uses a dynamic terminal sliding mode with unidirectional auxiliary surfaces. The nonlinear disturbance observer is designed to estimate system uncertainties and external disturbances. The output of the disturbance observer aids the robust adaptive control scheme and improves robust attitude control performance. Finally, simulation results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed terminal sliding mode with unidirectional auxiliary surfaces.


The authors derive, under weaker conditions, a discrete-time counterpart of K. Glover's (1984) error estimate for reduced-order models. Following the same lines, a simple proof of Glover's result for continuous-time systems can be given. >


Around 100 Australian companies have set up offices in India which has given a major boost to India Australia trade relations. But there is room for more improvement which will prove beneficial for both the countries. The Hon Kamal Nath is India's Minister for Commerce and Industry. On 19 May 2008, during a visit to Sydney, Kamal Nath addressed The Sydney Institute.


There are some similarities in Kenji Miyazawa's work, "Kaze no Matasaburo" (the story between a transfer student, Takada Saburo and the children of a mountain village in Tōhoku), and his fore work, "Kazeno Matasaburo" (the story of Kazeno Matasaburo, the god of wind, and the children of a mountain village in Tōhoku). Kenji has described Kazeno Matasaburo as 'a friend unexpectedly transferred from Tokyo to the school in the countryside' in "Kazeno Matasaburo". However, why did he set up the main character in "Kaze no Matasaburo" as a transfer student from Hokkaido instead of from Tokyo? Based on this question, the writer focuses on Hokkaido and reread the "Kaze no Matasaburo" in the thesis. In addition, by the comparing of the contemporary discourses on the relationship of Hokkaido and Tōhoku region, and "The Biography of Gusukobudori" with the association of Hokkaido, the writer also think about the characteristic of "Kaze no Matasaburo".


A new phenolic glycoside, 3-methoxyphenol 1-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→6)-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (1), was isolated from the 90% acetone extract of the branches and leaves of Chamaecyparis obtusa var. breviramea f. crippsii along with another 10 known phenolics 2–11. Their structures were determined mainly by means of MS, 1D- and 2D-NMR data. Cytotoxicities of compounds 3 and 5–11 were tested on BGC-823, Hela and A549 cancer cell lines, the results showed that compound 8 was bioactive and its IC50 values were 6.9, 29.7 and 52.9 μM, respectively.


Prostate cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers worldwide. The early stages of prostate cancer (PCa) are highly dependent on the androgen receptor (AR) pathway and hence therapies target this signalling axis. This approach is successful initially but invariably fails and the tumours progress to castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), for which few therapeutic options exist. Therefore, there is a great need to identify and characterize novel therapeutic targets for this stage of the disease.
Cancer cells undergo alterations that allow them to survive and proliferate, and metabolic reprogramming is one of the most important manifestations in cancer progression. Therefore, targeting tumour metabolism is an attractive approach to treat cancer. Screening for novel metabolic targets was performed using an siRNA library. 26 metabolic factors were identified to affect proliferation and/or migration, and these were found to be involved in essential pathways including lipogenesis, heme-biosynthesis, redox homeostasis, and glycolysis. The lead targets were validated in a range of cell lines and additional assays performed to investigate the effect upon cell cycle and cell death.
UROS, the fourth step of heme synthesis, was further investigated and depletion of this enzyme significantly inhibited prostate cancer proliferation and migration, promoted cell cycle arrest and induced cell death. Further, inhibition of heme synthesis using the inhibitor succinylacetone was found to significantly induce caspase-independent cell death and to sensitise cells to ROS. Importantly, the inhibitory activity of succinylacetone in combination with ROS showed specificity for cancer cell lines. Targeting heme synthesis therefore represents a novel targeted treatment option for prostate cancer and further work is needed to develop this into a therapeutic strategy.


Globally, non-timber forest products (NTFPs) continue to contribute vastly to addressing the food, poverty reduction, income, and livelihood requirements of people in rural areas. However, as of now, there are no specific existing data highlighting the periodic contributions of NTFPs to the economy of the eastern region and the country. In Ghana, insufficient attention has been paid to the legislative and regulatory environments for the creation of NTFPs. Since forest policies continue to classify NTFPs as "minor" forest products, they receive less attention than wood in forest management initiatives and policies. The absence of a definitive policy on NTFPs has hampered their promotion, commercialization, and supply chain management. This study analyses the contribution of NTFPs towards economic development in the eastern region and the achievement of SDGs in Ghana. Through focus group discussions and a thematic analysis, it was concluded that NTFPs contribute immensely towards the economic development of the eastern region and the country through employment and direct taxes. Ultimately, it is evident from the study that the destruction of the Atiwa Forest Reserve for the purpose of bauxite mining will widely hinder the country's achievement of its SDGs. Additionally, the study found that residents will continue to exploit forest resources if the core concerns of institutional deficiencies and rural poverty are not addressed. To curb this situation, there should be the sustainable, regulated, and authorized harvesting of NTFPs/NWFPs, community/user empowerment, and sectoral education and training programmes, etc. Even though these are common solutions, the study found them extremely rare within the study area.


Various applications have been realized by wireless communications. Especially, applications using ultra-high-definition video transmission are attracting attention. There is an increasing demand for ultra-high-definition video transmission over uplink in these applications. Such large-capacity uplink traffic plays an important role not only in mobile phone networks but also in private networks such as wireless local area network (LAN). In wireless LAN systems, uplink transmission access schemes are broadly divided into (a) uplink transmission based on carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (UL CSMA/CA) and (b) trigger-based access. From the viewpoint of video transmission, trigger-based access, which can control the transmission timing, is more suitable than UL CSMA/CA, which cannot control the transmission timing. However, even if trigger-based access is performed, highly demanding applications such as ultra-high-definition video transmission cause a problem that increasing the capacity of wireless communication systems does not directly bring to the realization of applications. Therefore, we consider that it is necessary to evaluate video throughput, which is based on the criteria whether requirements for ultra-high-definition video transmission have been satisfied, instead of the bit throughput, which is calculated from bits received correctly. In this paper, we consider the video throughput and propose uplink radio resources allocation using application proportional fairness to utilize radio resources efficiently for video transmission. Computer simulation shows that our proposal can significantly improve the video throughput compared with a typical radio resource allocation scheme, proportional fairness.


Collaborative filters are frequently used in e-commerce to provide a heightened user experience and to tempt users into making purchases by recommending items and drawing the user's attention to additional products. Purchasing of digital media over the Internet continues to be popular and e-commerce giants such as Amazon.com, CDNOW.com and Launch.com heavily employ Automated Collaborative Filtering (ACF). This paper demonstrates a system for comparing musical compositions and provides an indication of how similar two or more musical pieces are to each other. It is shown that a significant amount of similarity exists between music compositions analysed from within the same genre. It is proposed that a similarity metric could be incorporated into existing ACF systems to provide a powerful and effective recommendation system that will cater specifically for a user's preferences, and thus encourage purchase.


ABSTRACT
This study aims to determine anomalies stock returns on the trading day, especially day of the week effect on stock return on Indonesian stock exchange period 2012-2014. Day of the week effect is part of the calendar anomaly/seaonal stating that the return is received in trading week is different.
Population in this study is the closing price daily stock companies included in LQ45 on Indonesian stock exchange on period 2012-2014. Sample used in this study is a listed company on LQ45 since January 2012 until December 2014.
The independent variable is the variable days (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) at LQ45 period 2012-2014. While the dependent variable in this study is the daily stock return LQ45 period 2012-2014.
Hypothesis testing methods using OLS (Ordinary Least Square). Where the result of this study show there is a day of the week effect on stock return were significantly negative on Monday, so that the research hypothesis is accepted. In this study was lowest return on Monday and the highest return on Wednesday.
Keywords : Day of The Week Effect, Stock Return, LQ45, OLS


High-order discretization schemes of SDEs using free Lie algebra-valued random variables are introduced by Kusuoka [Adv. Math. Econ., 2004, 5, 69–83], [Adv. Math. Econ., 2013, 17, 71–120], Lyons–Victoir [Proc. R. Soc. Lond. Ser. A Math. Phys. Sci., 2004, 460, 169–198], Ninomiya–Victoir [Appl. Math. Finance, 2008, 15, 107–121] and Ninomiya–Ninomiya [Finance Stochast., 2009, 13, 415–443]. These schemes are called KLNV methods. They involve solving the flows of vector fields associated with SDEs and it is usually done by numerical methods. The authors have found a special Lie algebraic structure on the vector fields in the major financial diffusion models. Using this structure, we can solve the flows associated with vector fields analytically and efficiently. Numerical examples show that our method reduces the computation time drastically.


Corrosive interaction of aluminum nanopowders of different dispersity with water was studied. Nanopowders were produced by method of wire electrical explosion in argon media. It was shown that aluminum nanopowders were exposed to high conversion degree. The corrosion process of nanopowders is characterized by breakdown time at the presence of gaseous water. The rate of nanopowder–water interaction increases as nanopowder specific surface area rises. Finding can be used to determine conditions of nanopowders keeping, to forecast nanopowder behavior at their transport and processing, to produce molecular hydrogen and so on.


Presently work some practical recommendations are approached for the use of programs with base in the Method of the Finite Elements (MEF) that frequently are used for the modeling of problems tension deformation, plastic deformations and fail in deep foundations that are obviated throwing results far from the reality in many cases. For they are exposed it approaches of great use in the international bibliography and the author's experiences in their application for the case of piles. It is exemplified through comparisons the results obtained through the modeling with other formulations being proven validates it of the proposed pattern.


In the various sandstones of the Swiss Molasse, the hydraulic swelling and softening coefficients may be used together as good criteria for the choice of replacement sandstones as well as durability index. Gypsum found in the decayed sandstones shows two types of distribution. In zones protected from driving rain, its important superficial concentrations lead to weathering by desquamation. In zones subject to rain, the concentrations occur at depth, associated with structural disorders (fissures, microfissures) characteristic of exfoliation.


Recent experiments by Lauhon and Ho using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) observed the direct hopping of H and D on Cu(001) as a function of temperature. They found nearly temperature independent tunneling for H below 60 K, but could not detect the tunneling threshold for D (it is at least 1000 times lower than for H). The availability of such direct and accurate measurements provides the opportunity for validating the level of theory required to predict the diffusion of adsorbates on surfaces. Thus, we carried out density functional theory (DFT) using the generalized gradient approximation (GGA-II) on periodic slabs. The calculated tunneling rate of 4.74×10−4 s−1 for H is in close agreement with the experimental value of 4.4×10−4 s−1. We predict 4.66×10−9 s−1 for the tunneling rate of D (one hop every 83 months!). Between 60 and 80 K, the calculated thermally activated diffusion rate of H is 1012.88 exp(−0.181 eV/kT) s−1 in close agreement with the STM value: 1012.9±0.3 exp(−0.197 eV/kT). For deuteri...


We explore the relation between matrix measures and quasi-birth-and-death processes. We derive an integral representation of the transition function in terms of a matrix-valued spectral measure and corresponding orthogonal matrix polynomials. We characterize several stochastic properties of quasi-birth-and-death processes by means of this matrixmeasure and illustrate the theoretical results by several examples.


How must a middle manager behave to be effective? Despite the heightened importance of middle managers, this fundamental question in the field of leadership remains largely unanswered. An understanding of the key behaviours displayed by effective middle managers provides an opportunity for enhanced productivity and improved organisational performance. Rather than focus on observable behaviours, most leadership literature yields long survey lists of attributions and perceptions. We dismiss this reliance on attributions in leadership writings, and argue that the focus should, instead, be shifted toward the observable and trainable behaviours and behavioural patterns of highly effective middle managers. Observing the real-life behaviours of highly effective middle managers will further detail as well as go beyond the transformational and transactional leadership paradigm. Four mutually exclusive, behavioural classes we have developed for analysing such observations are: "Steering", "Supporting", "Self-defending" and "Sounding".


In this talk, we present an overview of subglottal acoustics, with emphasis on the significant anatomical structures that define subglottal resonances, and we present results from our experiments incorporating subglottal resonances into automatic speaker normalization and speech recognition technologies. Speech samples used in the modeling and perception studies were obtained from a new speech corpus (the UCLA-WashU subglottal database) of simultaneous microphone and (subglottal) accelerometer recordings of 50 adult speakers of American English (AE). We will discuss new findings about the Young's Modulus of tracheal soft tissue, the viscosity of tracheal cartilage, and the effect of going from a circular cross-section to a rectangular cross-section in the conus elasticus. We also present results from studies demonstrating a small, but significant, role of subglottal resonances in discriminating speaker height and of the interaction between subglottal resonances and formants in height discrimination.


Making technology of 24 m steel ridge is introduced in this paper.The concatenation of main plate,arching and cutting out the material of abdominal plate for the steel ridge,combination of I-steel,welding ways are brifing expounded.Meanwhile,shape size of steel ridge,welding quality and arching degree accord with the demands of the design after technology implementation.


In this paper we study the characteristics of the international banks' country risk exposures using the network approach and utilizing the Consolidated Banking Statistics (CBS) database provided by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). International financial markets have been challenged during and after the recent financial crisis and as a result, several policy changes have been introduced to preserve the banking system from failure. A network perspective is a suitable framework to explore the connectedness of the world-wide banking system and to monitor potential threads to its stability. By calculation of several topological properties we are able to shed some light on interconnections among banking sectors on country-to-country level, although the applied methodology is also well-suited for the individual bank-to-bank exposure analysis. We extend the analysis by examining the cycles within the exposure networks, which correspond to the risk-sharing bank activities through the cross-border lending and borrowing at the same time.


Spin orbit coupling constant is calculated for various diatomic molecules. SCF MO theory is adopted. Two-center integrals are neglected except the overlap integral. One-center integrals are estimated from atomic ζ n , l . The agreement with experiment is excellent. Correlation between the electro-negativity difference and the coupling constant is pointed out. As an application of the theory, electronic structures of the ground state and the lower excited states of the O 2 + molecule are discussed.


Presents data from a survey of all state consultants, superintendents of residential schools, and ex officio trustees to the APH Federal Quota Program, to investigate current uses of standard and talking calculators in special and regular classes. Ninety per cent of respondents indicated they would use talking calculators in instructional programs if they were readily available.


Leptin is greatly involved in the regulation of food intake, and dysfunction of leptin or its receptors is associated with obesity. Numerous evidence indicate that obesity is linked to increased prevalence of hypertension. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is greatly involved in the regulation of arterial blood pressure and neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) are critical components of both the SNS and cardiovascular regulation. In this study we used whole‐cell patch‐clamp recordings from presympathetic kidney‐related RVLM neurons identified with retrograde viral labeling and tested the hypothesis that leptin reduces neuronal excitability of RVLM neurons. Application of leptin (500 nM) caused a rapid membrane hyperpolarization (3.7 ± 1.4 mV change) in half of the recorded presympathetic RVLM neurons without affecting the rest of the recorded cells. The hyperpolarization was accompanied with an increase of input resistance from 287 ± 95 MΩ to 336 ± 97 MΩ. In addition, leptin decreased the frequency of spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic currents (sEPSC) by 35.6 ± 0.1% without changing sEPSC amplitude. In contrast, leptin did not alter the inhibitory neurotransmission. In summary, our data demonstrate that leptin reduces the excitability of a subset of presympathetic RVLM neurons via pre‐ and postsynaptic mechanisms and suggest a potential control mechanism of SNS activity. Supported by Tulane University COBRE in Hypertension (NIH P30GM103337).


The results of an X-band GaAs FET YIG-tuned osciIIator development are reported. The best performance achieved was a minimum output power of 35 mW over the frequency range of 8.0 to 12.4 GHz with oscillations from 7.15 to 13.8 GHz.


The toxicity of microcystins on the antioxidant system in mouse liver was investigated.In the present paper,microcystins were administered by gavage to mice at a daily dose of 0.2 mg microcystins·kg-1 body weight for 28 days.The activities of superoxide dismutase increased significantly after 28 days of exposure while catalase decreased at the terminal of exposure.After 7 days,the content of glutathione in liver decreased as compared with control.Glutathione S-transferase activity augmented in treated group compared with the control after 28 days of exposure,suggesting a higher conjugation rate of the toxins with glutathione.These findings suggest that antioxidant system might play an important role in microcystins detoxication in mice.


We describe new publicly available, multi‐year formaldehyde (HCHO) data records from the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) nadir mapper (NM) instruments on the Suomi NPP and NOAA‐20 satellites. The OMPS‐NM instruments measure backscattered UV light over the globe once per day, with spatial resolutions close to nadir of 50 × 50 km2 (OMPS/Suomi‐NPP) and 17 × 17 km2 or 12 × 17 km2 (OMPS/NOAA‐20). After a preliminary instrument line shape and wavelength calibration using on‐orbit observations, we use the backscatter measurements in a direct spectral fit of radiances, in combination with a nadir reference spectrum collected over a clean area, to determine slant columns of HCHO. The slant columns are converted to vertical columns using air mass factors (AMFs) derived through scene‐by‐scene radiative transfer calculations. Finally, a correction is applied to account for background HCHO in the reference spectrum, as well as any remaining high‐latitude biases. We investigate the consistency of the OMPS products from Suomi NPP and NOAA‐20 using long‐term monthly means over 12 geographic regions, and also compare the products with publicly available TROPOMI HCHO observations. OMPS/Suomi‐NPP and OMPS/NOAA‐20 monthly mean HCHO vertical columns are highly consistent (r = 0.98), with low proportional (2%) and offset (2 × 1014 molecules cm−2) biases. OMPS HCHO monthly means are also well‐correlated with those from TROPOMI (r = 0.92), although they are consistently 10% ± 16% larger in polluted regions (columns >8 × 1015 molecules cm−2). These differences result primarily from differences in AMFs.


In a multi-hop wireless sensor network, broadcasting is an elementary operation to support command message sending, route discovery and other application tasks. Broadcasting by flooding may cause serious redundancy, contention, and collision in the network, which is referred to as the broadcast storm problem. Many broadcasting schemes have been proposed to give better performance than simple flooding in wireless sensor network. How to decide whether re-broadcast or not also poses a dilemma between reach ability and efficiency under different host densities. In this paper, we present popular broadcasting schemes, which can reduce re-broadcast packets and improve SRB(Saved ReBroadcast). Simulation results show different levels of improvement over the simple flooding scheme.


An analysis and controller design of double-input dc–dc converter (DIDDC) is introduced in this article. This converter is integrated with buck and boost converters at the front-end and a charge pump on the back-end. Salient features of this topology are as follows: (i) ripple content is low in source currents, (ii) both the dc sources are connected through an inductor, which gives rise to a smooth source current waveform, (iii) both the sources supply power to load either in standalone or simultaneously together, and (iv) two control–loops (one for source current regulation, while the second one for load voltage regulation) are sufficient enough to ensure power transfer/management from dc sources to load. To ensure power management on the input dc sources while keeping a stable closed-loop converter system, a multivariable diagonal controller is designed. The first diagonal controller performs the load voltage regulation task, while the second controller regulates input of source-2 dc current. From the control point of view, the double-input single-output converter becomes a two-input two-output control problem and exhibits control–loop interactions due to the power flow from two different sources to load through common elements. The impact of off-diagonal elements' interactions is accounted by using decouplers. The H∞ robust control theory and linear matrix inequality (LMI) principles are adopted to design reliable controllers. The structured controller of fixed order (PID) is designed by enforcing the necessary type LMIs. To demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of multivariable controllers of the DIDDC, a 60/24 V to 48 V, 150 W, 50 kHz topology prototype is constructed, and the power management aspects are investigated experimentally. Load voltage regulation, source current regulation, load sharing on the input dc sources, and power management aspects of LMI-based controllers were tested extensively for all possible disturbances. In all these test cases, the closed-loop double-input converter system is stable and robust in rejecting a variety of disturbances created.


Introduction A three-hour train journey inland from Shanghai, along the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), lies the city of Yiwu. Its existence stretches back to the Tang dynasty (618–907) and promotional websites point to its famous residents from the Tang (618–907), Song (960–1279) and Yuan (1271–1368) dynasties, as well as more recent prodigies such as the educationalist Chen Wangdao, the literary theorist Feng Xuefeng and the historian Wu Han. However, there are few signs of this dynastic history today, save for an old pagoda that stands by the man-made lake, which is itself strangely juxtaposed against the high-rise apartments. What was once the village of Yiwu has expanded rapidly over the past three decades, increasing its city centre ground area to 90 square kilometres and re-branding itself around its 'small commodities city' status, which was granted by the Chinese government in 1982 in recognition of its specialism in small, low-end consumer goods. Since that time, it has used its small manufacturing economy to transform itself from a traditional agricultural town to the key driver of a huge regional economy, not only in Zhejiang province, but in the YRD economic area1 as a whole (Chen 2000). As a result, it has become a key destination for international wholesale buyers of low-end products. This expansion was greatly aided in 1984 by the famous 'n° 4 document', which entitled private Town and Village Enterprises (TVEs) to the same tax incentives as collectively-owned TVEs, and the same policy treatment as State Owned Enterprises (SOEs). These changes effectively equated private firms with SOEs and their impact on potential private entrepreneurs was huge. According to Huang (2008, 97), within one month of its announcement rural residents in the county of Yiwu raised 10 million yuan and established 500 businesses.


ABSTRACT The surface trace of the Laramide Lewis thrust in the southeastern Cordillera of Canada exhibits a fundamental change in direction of approximately 35 degrees from the Flathead to the Clark Range. The continuity of structural and stratigraphic units throughout this area would suggest that the Lewis thrust plate moved as a single, coherent, tectonic unit with no major transcurrent or transverse normal faulting. Palaeomagnetic data support this contention as there was, within the limits of error, no measurable differential rotation between the Flathead and the Clark Ranges. The change in trend may possibly be related to the geometry of the thrust surface established during the initial stages of Laramide movement.


The process of forming antigens-polymeric carrier conjugates has been studied to improve their immunogenicity. These conjugates were used to create immunogens in the form of virus-like particles. In addition to protein-antigen and dextran, they contained spermidine to form ionic bonds of the conjugate molecules with the central nucleic acid. It has been shown that it is possible to create conjugates with predetermined properties by varying the number of active groups during activation of the polymer, the duration of the conjugation reactions and the sequence of adding the components.


Article 6(1) (Lawfulness of processing) (see too recitals 40–49); Article 6(4) (Exceptions to the requirement of compatible purposes for further processing and criteria to ascertain whether a purpose of further processing is compatible with the purpose for which the personal data are initially collected) (see too recital 50); Article 12 (Transparent information) (see too recitals 58–59); Articles 13–15 (Information and access to personal data) (see also recitals 60–64); Article 24 (Responsibility of the controller) (see too recitals 74–78) ; Article 32 (Security of processing) (see too recital 83); Article 89(1) (Safeguards and derogations relating to processing for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes) (see too recitals 158–163).


High voltage direct current (HVDC) is expected to bring forth large capacity, long transmission distance, and asynchronous grid interconnection. To quantitatively analyze the protection systems of HVDC, an evaluation system is proposed with a novel indicator framework and an innovative weighting method for the assessment of HVDC operating status. The novel indicator framework includes 31 indicators from the perspectives of reliability, fault monitoring, operational maintenance, control efficiency, and system redundancy. A self-learning interval analytic hierarchical process is used to decide the weights of the indicators based on the maximum entropy method. The optimal subjective weights of the indicators can be obtained by the self-learning process, considering not only the fuzziness of single expert scoring but also the difference between experts' weights. A real HVDC project in Hubei province, China, was studied to verify the effectiveness of the proposed evaluation system.


—This memo explores potential efficiency gains in processing multiple spectral channels in parallel and in comparing the relative speeds of CPU and GPU based gridding. If deconvolution of the channel images is not needed, parallel imaging produces some efficiency gains. If deconvolution is needed, the optimum solution is single channel at a time processing. Using GPU based gridding showed a slight (20%) reduction in run time for a comparable test. This largely shows that the gridding of visibilities in spectral line processing is less expensive than the rest of the operation.


The basic theory, focal research points and the state of research both home and abroad on webmetrics are analysed and summarized,and then the future focal points and the application prospect of webmetrics are pointed out.


Based on two hypothesis,a new kind of four parameters model was posed that used on S N curve over long and middle life range of composite laminate.Compared with other methods,it allowed for nothing of fatigue principle,but fatigue test data and it determined the S N curve equation with purified mathematical way.Example indicated that the proposed method not only had a good approximate effect,but a strong adaptive characteristic in usage as well.Therefore,implicitly it had the value of engineering application.


Combined with practical engineering,the author analyzes the technique of dismantling longitudinal-cross wall and erecting reinforced concrete beam in the reconstruction of brick-concrete structural buildings from design and construction,which to offer a reference for old buildings' reconstruction.


textabstractThe word hematopoiesis is derived from the greek words, haima meaning blood and poiesis
meaning to make. Hematopoiesis is a tightly regulated process which ensures production of
appropriate amounts of different blood cell types. All blood cell types are derived from pluripotent
hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). The HSCs are capable of self renewal. Committed
myeloid progenitor cells are derived from the HSCs. Committed myeloid progenitor cells are
able to proliferate and differentiate into mature blood cells like, granulocytes (neutrophils,
eosinophils, basophils), lymphocytes, erythrocytes, platelets, macrophages, natural killer
cells, dendritic cells and mast cells. During embryogenesis HSCs develop in the aorta-gonadmesonephros
(AGM) region. HSCs migrate to the fetal liver which is the main site of
hematopoiesis until birth. After birth, the bone marrow takes over as the primary site of
hematopoiesis.


In the design of the sprinkler systems in paint workshop in Fujian Daimler Automotive Co.Ltd.,based on the Code of Design for Sprinkler Systems(GB 50084-2001),the design of cross mains is optimized to balance the pressure and flow of sprinklers and reduce the hourly water consumption and head loss,which improves the fire fighting capacity of the system.The good effect has been achieved.


1Department of Mathematics, SRMS College of Engineering & Technology, Bareilly (U.P), India 2Department of Mathematics, Bhagwant Institute of Technology, Muzaffarnagar (U.P.), India 3Department of Mathematics, Bhagwant Universtiy, Ajmer, India ---------------------------------------------------------------------***---------------------------------------------------------------------Abstract Software Company has to upgrade its software system to meet the customer requirements which changes with time. Multi generation is also referred as multi-up gradation process in which new version of software is released in the market with some additional new features. Paper presents development of software reliability growth model under multi generation process using log logistic test effort function. Log logistic distribution describes increasing/decreasing phenomenon effectively as compared to weibull and logistic distribution. Three generation of model have been developed and compared using statistical tools R2 and MSE. Results validates good fitting of third generation to given dataset.


Quantum tracking control aims to identify applied fields to steer the expectation values of particular observables along desired paths in time. The associated temporal fields can be identified by inverting the underlying dynamical equations for the observables. However, fields found in this manner are often plagued by undesirable singularities. In this paper we consider a planar molecular rotor, and derive singularity-free tracking expressions for the fields that steer the expectation of the orientation of the rotor along desired trajectories in time. Simulations are presented that utilize two orthogonal control electric fields to drive the orientation of the rotor along a series of designated tracks.


With the exponential rise in the older population for the coming years, many studies have aimed to further investigate potential solutions to the aging process. It has been well understood that age is the largest risk factor for chronic disease due to younger individuals possessing more prevalent and adaptive metabolic networks that result in overall health and homeostasis. During the lifecycle, several physiological alterations ensue throughout the metabolic system that attribute to functional decline. In this cross‐sectional analysis, a targeted metabolomic approach was applied to investigate the plasma metabolome of 151 young (n = 75) and older adults (n = 76). A corrected MANOVA model was generated, with such covariates as gender, BMI, and chronic condition score (CCS), to analyze the aging process of the two populations. Metabolites associated with impaired fatty acid metabolism were found to be most significant: palmitic acid (p < 0.001), 3‐hexenedioic acid (p < 0.001), stearic acid (p = 0.005), and decanoylcarnitine (p = 0.036). Derivatives of amino acid metabolism, 1‐methlyhistidine (p = 0.035) and methylhistamine (p = 0.027), were found to be increased in the younger population and several novel metabolites were identified, such as cadaverine (p = 0.034), 4‐ethylbenzoic acid (p = 0.029), and 3‐hexenedioic acid (p < 0.001). Principal component analysis was conducted and highlighted a shift in the metabolome for both groups. Pathway and enrichment analyses uncovered several impacted pathways that elucidate the metabolic alterations in the older population and aid in further explanation of the aging process. As a result, we offer a better understanding of the aging metabolome and potentially reveal new biomarkers for future study.


Neural Networks are popular a classification tool because of its great representation power. However, training a neural network is not an easy task. Straight forward training method like Error Backward Propagation algorithm does not work very well in many real life applications, especially for networks with a large number of weight parameters. Greedy layer-wise training method which elegantly combines unsupervised training with supervised learning proves to be very handful to speed up the process of convergence when training such a large networks. In the project, the layer-wise training method and Error Backward Propagation algorithm are both implemented for a pattern recognition application. The two training methods perform similarly in terms of training and testing errors; but, layer-wise training present much faster convergence speed. Keywords—pattern recognition, image processing, neural networks, unsupervised training, supervised training, error backward propagation.


Abstract Li{CH(PPh2)2} reacts with HgCl2,SnCl2, or PbCl2 in tetrahydrofuran solution to yield the homoleptic complexes Hg{CH(PPh2)2}2, Sn{CH(PPh2)2}2, and Pb{CH(PPh2)2}2 The mecury complex contains two equivalent, carbon bound ligands while the tin and lead compounds contain two different CH(PPh2)2 − units: one carbon-bound, the other chelating through two phosphorus atoms. The three coordinate tin or lead ions have pyramidal structures as shown by X-ray studies.


Street West, Toronto, Ontario, 57 ABSTRACT Canada, M4Y 1R5 Hemoglobin is site-specifically crosslinked into its tetra meric form by reaction with a trifunctional reagent 21 Appl. No.: 978,418 which combines electrostatic effects, steric effects and the presence of functional groups so that two of the 22 Filed: Nov. 18, 1992 functional groups react with specific sites on the hemo o globin whilst the third site is left free for reaction with 51 Int. Cl..................... C07C 103/52; E. : endogenous nucleophilic compounds. A specific exam U.S S. 53 5. ple of such a crosslinking reagent is trimesoyl tris(3,552 U.S.C. .................................... 530/385; 5 9.416 dibromosalicylate), TTDS, which effects specific cross linking between the amino groups of lysine-82 on each 58) Field of Search ....................... 530/385, 40: respective As sub-unit. While the crosslinking reagent 514/6 TTDS has three available carboxyl groups for the 56) References Cited crosslinking reaction, only two so react, leaving one free carboxyl for reaction with exogenous nucleophiles, U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS e.g. to render the hemoglobin product useful as a carrier 4,529,719 7/1985 Tye ......................................... s for nucleophilic compounds through the body's circula 4,584,130 4/1986 Bucci et al. . 260/112 tory system. 4,598,064 7/1986 Walder .................................... 514/6 4,857,636 8/1989 Hsia ..................................... 530/385 9 Claims, 5 Drawing Sheets


The paper introduces the abnormal phenomena encountered by the no-time-delay instantaneous current protection , i.e., the stress of inrush current of distribution transformer, the effect of CT's saturation. Some solutions are presented aiming at the mentioned problems.


The paper analyses the potential opportunities between Bangladesh and Myanmar stemming from sub-regional cooperation. The paper examines Myanmar's integration into the regional and global economy together with modalities and trends of Bangladesh-Myanmar relations. Opportunities and challenges have been discussed in the areas of trade, investment (together with business set up at special economic zones), agricultural cooperation (with contract farming prospects), energy collaboration, transport connectivity and the role of political and non-state actors.


The purpose of the article is to establish the contribution of Ukrainian avant-garde artist, pedagogue, theorist Kazymyr Severynovych Malevych to the Ukrainian and world pictorial art. The methodology consists of a range of methods: historical, biographical, theoretical. The abovementioned methodological approach allows studying the question of historical data relating to the events in Ukraine that led to the emigration waves, finding out certain biographical facts and analyzing the artist's creative activity. The scientific novelty of the research is in establishing Kazymyr Malevych's contribution to the development of the Ukrainian and world pictorial art. We have studied the special features of his art, theoretical works and teaching activity, as these were an important factor in preserving and popularizing the Ukrainian culture. Conclusions. Malevych's life and art have become the valuable heritage of the whole world. He influenced the development of visual arts with his activity and personally created direction in abstractionism. Guided by his own research and artistic search, he established a new direction in avant-garde art – suprematism, which became a unique phenomenon for fine art. His style was a major influence for visual arts, architecture and design. Malevych elaborated his own manner of teaching art to students. He was followed by Ukrainian and German constructivists, American minimalists and French abstractionists. His creative ideas are still relevant to this day.


Abandoned object detection is an essential requirement in many video surveillance contexts. In this paper, we propose a method to detect abandoned object from surveillance video. Different from conventional approaches that mostly rely on pixellevel processing, we perform region-level analysis in both background maintenance and static foreground object detection. In background maintenance, region-level information is fed back to adaptively control the learning rate. In static foreground object detection, region-level analysis double-checks the validity of candidate abandoned blobs. Different from conventional approaches that mostly rely on pixel-level processing, we perform region-level analysis. In this paper, we present an abandoned object detection system based on blob detection methods are aimed at detecting regions. In a digital image that differs in properties, such as brightness or color, compared to surrounding regions. Informally, a blob is a region of an image in which some properties are constant or approximately constant. All the points in a blob can be considered in some sense to be similar to each other. In this paper we are performing a real time application using the Raspberry Pi processor and a Raspberry Pi camera.


Production practice serves as a most essential teaching mode in developing engineering students'practical abilities. Given the in stability of the performances conducted by metal materials and engineering majors in recent years, this paper discusses the research being un dertaken, concerning how to construct production practice bases, how to reform practice modes, and so forth. The research into various as pects have yielded desired results in enriching teaching practice, optimizing practice modes, fostering student's professional qualifications, and promoting the comprehensive abilities of students.


In recent years, as ESS has become very popular, BMS related electric fires have occurring frequently. In this research we performed analysis of risk priority number (RPN) using Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) technique to analyze the safety of BMS, which accounts for the most part in ESS electric fires. And the functional safety concept was used to eliminate or reduce failure modes that may cause overvoltage, overcurrent, and overheating for higher risk priorities of the analyzed BMS. The BMS hardware was redesigned so that the safety mechanism works for the high-priority risk modes, and the main firmware procedures were designed to control the battery against potential malfunctions. And we implemented the improved BMS hardware and experimentally verified that the safety mechanism works as designed. The test results have confirmed that the safety mechanism works normally and the battery can be controlled even if overvoltage, overcurrent and overheating occurs in the BMS, or major firmware procedures malfunction. Therefore we are confident that electric fires related to ESS can be prevented in advance by analyzing the safety of BMS in the way we used in this research to find high-priority risk factors and applying the concept of safety functions to the hardware and software design of BMS.


An EtOAc extract of the stem bark of Calophyllum caledonicum (Clusiaceae) yielded thirteen new hydroxylated and/or prenylated xanthone derivatives, namely 5-hydroxy-8-methoxyxanthone (1), 3,5-dihydroxy-1,2-dimethoxyxanthone (2), 1,8-dihydroxy-6,7-dimethoxyxanthone (3), 5,7-dihydroxy-2,6-dimethoxyxanthone (4), 6,8-dihydroxy-3,7-dimethoxy-xanthone (5), 2,5,6,7,8-pentahydroxyxanthone (6), 1,3,8-trihydroxy-5,7-dimethoxyxanthone (7) and according to a previously adopted nomenclature [3], caledonixanthone G-L. (8-13). The structural elucidation of 1-13 were mainly established on the basis of 1D and 2D NMR and HRMS spectroscopic analysis.


The original density-analog scheme was proposed in the dark ages when only the LASL subcritical "vault tests" provided guiding information about arrays of fissile material .l This scheme was based on the hypothesis that critical cubic arrays behave similarly to homogeneous systems when the average density of fissile material (5) is changed by spacing variation. In other words, the critical mass of the array was represented:


It is established that combination of silver and penicillin allows solving the vital tasks of improving the antibiotic's efficiency and creating a medication, to which bacteria would not adapt at certain concentrations of silver in the solution. The preparations with silver nano-particles and benzyl penicillin have lower antibacterial activity in comparison with the ionic form silver complexes, but the antimicrobial activity of preparations with silver nanoparticles becomes less dependent on the substrate's concentration and nature. Taking into account the low toxicity and the marginal impact of the substrate on such preparations' activity, the application of benzyl penicillin – silver nano-particles complexes is feasible.


Objective\ To compare the clinical efficacy of endoscopic thyroidectomy by breast approach with conventional open thyroidectomy in patients with nodular goiter.Methods\ 92 patients with one side nodular goiter were divided randomly into two groups. Patients in group 1(n=56) were underwent endoscopic thyroidectomy by breast approach. Patients in group 2(n=36) were underwent conventional open thyroidectomy. The therapeutic efficacy were observed and analyzed.Results\ Endoscopic thyroidectomy by breast approach underwent successfully in 56 cases without conversion to conventional procedure. There was a significant difference in cosmetic result, blood loss and hospital cost between two groups(P0.01). There was no significant difference in median operating time, post-operative wound drainage, consumption of analgesic and hospital stay between two groups. No intraoperative or postoperative hemorrhage and recurrent laryngeal nerve injury occurred in either group.Conclusions\ Endoscopic thyroidectomy by breast approach has satisfactory cosmetic results but higher hospital cost.


The deposit policy of a commercial bank is nothing but the tactics and strategy of collecting funds from individuals and legal entities on a repayable basis. The deposit policy for any commercial bank is an integral part of the overall banking policy, must not be considered separately, the impact and interrelation of all elements of banking policy should also be taken into account. Operations carried out in commercial banks for the purpose of attracting funds, subsequent placement and real income are called passive operations of a commercial bank. The quantity and quality of both passive and active operations of commercial banks are closely related to the financial conditions of other businesses.


Disseminated histoplasmosis is an unusual infection in heart transplant recipients. We describe a 29-year-old man who developed fever, headache, and diarrhea 2 months after he received a heart transplant. Within days, diffuse pulmonary infiltrates, worsening hypoxia, and rising creatinine level supervened. Voriconazole was begun empirically, but the patient did not improve. A markedly elevated urine Histoplasma antigen test allowed a presumptive diagnosis of disseminated histoplasmosis, and treatment with liposomal amphotericin B was initiated. The patient became afebrile and felt better within a few days, and therapy was then changed to oral itraconazole solution. The diagnosis was confirmed with growth of Histoplasma capsulatum from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. This is the third case of disseminated histoplasmosis reported in a heart transplant recipient and the first in which the urine Histoplasma antigen provided a valuable early clue to the diagnosis. (Infect Dis Clin Pract 2008;16:49–53) Fungal infections occur in 5% to 20% of solid organ ransplant recipients and are an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Many of these infections are disseminated at the time of presentation, making early recognition and initiation of appropriate therapy critical. In comparison with the opportunistic fungi, such as Candida and Aspergillus species, the endemic mycoses, histoplasmosis, blastomycosis, and coccidioidomycosis cause a small number of infections in transplant recipients. The rarity of these infections and their protean symptoms when the infection is disseminated can lead to diagnostic delays and subsequent high mortality. On the other hand, with timely and appropriate treatment, the outcomes for infection with several of these endemic fungi are generally favorable. Histoplasmosis, the most prevalent among the endemic mycoses, is also the most common endemic mycosis reported in solid organ transplant recipients. Most cases have been reported in kidney transplants and far fewer in liver or lung transplant recipients. Histoplasmosis is very uncommon in patients who undergo heart transplantation; to our knowledge, only 2 previous cases have been reported. We describe a case of disseminated histoplasmosis occurring 2 months after orthotopic heart transplantation in a patient with no obvious history of exposure. The diagnostic and therapeutic challenges presented by this case are emphasized.


Many recent laptop assaults were released in a couple of ranges to avoid the detection of current Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS). Some tiers of the assault can also seem innocent if checked one at a time. Furthermore, the periods between these separate assault levels can be at the order of hours, days, or maybe months. These traits of multi-stage attacks make the detection undertaking hard for maximum present IDSs which are stateless in that they carry out intrusion detection through independently checking man or woman packets, connections or periods. In this paper, we propose a unique approach, Active Event Correlation (AEC), which collects and correlates suspicious network activities internal a Network Intrusion Detection System (NIDS). AEC infers the opportunity of attacks within the context of safety policies and blocks assaults before they may be finished. We have applied AEC on pinnacle of the Bro NIDS. Experiments imply that AEC can efficaciously understand and correlate man or woman ranges of multi-degree attacks, forestall incomplete attack levels, and supply network administrator's meaningful and concise alerts. In this paper, we correlate detectable suspicious activities with the aid of combining complementary country of the art strategies, which carry out correlation along one-of-a-kind axis.


The T helper‐1 (Th‐1)/T helper‐2 (Th‐2) paradigm is relevant for the pathogenesis and therapy of multiple sclerosis. In experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, a shift towards a Th‐2 immune response serves as treatment of the disease. In the human immune system, the factors which determine and modulate the differentiation of CD4+ T cells into the Th‐1 or Th‐2 phenotype have yet to be elucidated completely. Here, the split‐well approach was used to analyse costimulatory requirements for the generation of myelin basic protein‐specific T‐cell subsets considered to play a major role in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. Myelin basic protein‐specific T‐cell lines were isolated from peripheral blood cells of healthy individuals in the presence or absence of a blockade of the costimulatory molecule B7‐1, previously reported to be involved in the development of Th‐1 cells. T‐helper type was determined by the interferon/interleukin ratio. Blockade of B7‐1 did not increase the number of Th‐2‐like myelin basic protein‐specific T‐cell lines. Thus, these data show no evidence for an influence of B7‐1 blockade on the development of human myelin basic protein‐specific T‐cell subsets. These results have to be taken into account when discussing whether antibody‐mediated B7‐1 blockade might be a suitable therapy in multiple sclerosis, as demonstrated in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.


Previous work on locomotor pointing control during run-ups in sports has revealed the importance of visual regulation strategies, although most existing research has been conducted under a limited range of task constraints, mainly in the athletic jumps. The aim of this position paper is to extend understanding of control mechanisms by comparing research on locomotor pointing strategies under task constraints of long jumping and cricket bowling. An interesting question is whether differences in visual regulation strategies arise from differences in nested task constraints and availability of vertical reference information at the end of the run-up. Evidence suggests that long jumpers and bowlers use a prospective control strategy in approach runs, although the unique task constraints of both sports shape run-up strategies. In long jumpers, it has been shown that step adjustments can occur as and when needed by performers to ensure hitting the take-off board. In cricketers, a traditional inter-trial analysis revealed that despite a high level of variability in initiation points, due to the implementation of two visual regulation phases early and late in the run-up, bowlers seem able to reduce variability of footfall placement at the bound step to the same very low levels as long jumpers. A subsequent trial-by-trial analysis highlighted that bowlers spread adjustments of step length over the whole run-up and made adjustments only when needed and for as long as necessary. Data suggest that nested task constraints and the availability of vertical reference information at the end of run-ups in sport constrain implementation of gait regulation strategies. Ongoing research is needed to specify the nature of the perceptual variables used to guide locomotion in the cricket and long jump run-ups.


Background  Psoriasis is an inflammatory skin disease characterized by epidermal hyperplasia and greatly accelerated epidermal turnover. The blockage of normal apoptotic process in the epidermis is one of the factors implicated in the pathogenesis of psoriasis.


The article is an attempt to interpret the information collected on the basis of the contents of scientific materials in confrontation with widely available press reports and media files regarding the largest unexplained series of murders in the history of Polish forensic science, which for the sake of the investigation are the case messages authorized by the authorities working on the case being a fraction of the material collected since the start of the investigation, but sufficient to satisfy the right to public information, as well as social curiosity. Based on the above documentation, some questions have been posed that get answers because of an incomplete outline of the perpetrators and especially individuals who handle not fluent in fields of study such as criminology, forensics, forensic medicine and criminal psychology. Some changes that take place because of the passage of time and new threads around the investigation have been discussed.


With the worsening employment situation of society,Agricultural and Forestry Colleges face the increasing pressure of employment,the employment outlook presents many problems,and therefore,it is imperative to establish a correct concept of employment.This paper analyzes the problems about Agricultural and Forestry Colleges,and explains the causes of the problems,and then from the five aspects targeted solutions proposed to help college students to correct the traditional Agricultural and Forestry Colleges in view of the deviation of employment,and enhance the employability and competitiveness of Agricultural and Forestry Colleges.


STUDY OBJECTIVES
Data on adherence and outcome of Upper Airway Stimulation (UAS) for patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is collected in an International Registry (ADHERE). Previous publications report significant improvement in self-reported and objective OSA outcomes, durable effectiveness, and high adherence. Debate remains whether the effectiveness of UAS is influenced by pre-operative OSA severity, therefore we aimed to evaluate this, using data from the ADHERE registry.

METHODS
ADHERE is a post-market ongoing international, multicenter registry. Adult patients were included if they had undergone UAS implantation and had at least one follow-up visit recorded in the database on June 8th, 2021. We divided the patients into five subgroups, based on OSA severity at baseline (AHI in events/hour): subgroup 1 (0-15), 2 (15-30), 3 (≥30-50), 4 (>50-65), and 5 (>65). We compared results regarding objective and self-reported treatment outcomes.

RESULTS
A total of 1963 patients were included. Twelve months after implantation, there was a significant (p<0.0001) improvement in objective sleep parameters in all subgroups with an AHI above 15 events/hr. Patients in subgroup 1 had the lowest AHI at final visit and the AHI reduction of patients in subgroup 5 was the largest (p<0.0001). No significant difference was found between the subgroups in overall treatment success (66.6%) and improvement of self-reported outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that UAS is an effective treatment for patients with an AHI ≥15 events/hour independent of pre-operative OSA severity. Self-reported outcomes and treatment success did not differ significantly between the five subgroups. These results clearly support that the indication of UAS could be broadened for patients with an AHI above 65 events/hour which to date is not common practice.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION
Registry: ClinicalTrials.gov; Title: Adherence and Outcome of Upper Airway Stimulation (UAS) for OSA International Registry (ADHERE Registry); Identifier: NCT02907398; URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02907398.


This paper describes an ideal Ada math library for use in embedded, real-time avionics, and a library implementation based on this model for a "standard" military avionics processor. The special requirements and implementation considerations for avionics applications are discussed, and the design and specification of an Ada math library closely matching these stringent requirements is put forward. Evaluation procedures are briefly discussed, including new techniques for accuracy testing without requiring higher precision.